Drugs: Thalidomide on Trial

The drug was never licensed for sale in the
U.S., so American victims of thalidomide number fewer than 20. Great
Britain, however, has more than 1,000 thalidomide babies. In West
Germany, where Chemie Grünenthal GMBH first introduced thalidomide as a
magically potent tranquilizer and sleeping pill, there are at least
3,184 surviving thalidomide-deformed children, while an equal number
have died. In addition, some 5,000 adults are believed to have suffered
permanent injury, a generalized neuritis that is invariably painful and
sometimes disabling.

Now, seven years after the disaster, Grünenthal's executives have been...